Computing devices continue to become more ubiquitous to daily life. They may take various forms such as desktop computers, laptops, tablet PCs, hybrid computers (2-in-1s), e-book readers, mobile phones, smartphones, wearable computers (including smartwatches, smart glasses/headsets), global positioning system (GPS) units, enterprise digital assistants (EDAs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), game consoles, and the like. Further, computing devices are being incorporated into vehicles and equipment, such as cars, trucks, farm equipment, manufacturing equipment, building environment control (e.g., lighting, HVAC), and home and commercial appliances. Each type of computing device is equipped with particular computing resources and designed for particular uses. The variety of computing devices and their subsequent uses necessitate a variety of input devices to allow users to interact with their computing devices.
One such input device is a touch sensitive surface such as a touchscreen or touchpad wherein the user input is received through contact between a user body part (e.g. a finger) or a user-held instrument (e.g. a pen or stylus), and the touch sensitive surface. Another input device is an input surface that senses gestures or motions made by a user above the input surface. A further input device is a position detection system which detects the relative position of either touch or non-touch interactions with a non-touch physical or virtual surface. Any of these methods can be used generally for hand-drawing or for handwriting, such as for inputting text content, such as alphabetic, numeric, grammatical and symbol characters. When user input is drawn or written, the user's handwriting is typically interpreted using a real-time handwriting recognition system or method. To this end, either on-line systems (e.g., recognition carried out using a cloud-based solution or the like) or off-line systems may be used.
Generally, handwriting recognition systems or methods monitor the initiation of a stroke, such as when the user contacts a touch sensitive surface (e.g., pen-down); the termination of a stroke, such that when the user stops contacting a touch sensitive surface (e.g., pen-up); and any stroke or line that the user makes with his or her finger or instrument between the initiation and termination of a stroke.
The type of computing device can determine the user input interface or method used for inputting characters. As computing devices become smaller, different input interfaces and methods have been developed to allow users to input content in an intuitive and easy manner.
In computing devices where the user draws the input characters, managing the insertion of characters into existing text or the like constitutes a difficult challenge as it generally requires particular gestures with the user's finger or instrument. Conventional text insertion techniques are generally not user-friendly as they require complex or non-intuitive interactions by the user with the interface surface. Too often, the user does not understand, or remember, the insertion technique (if any) implemented by a particular computing device. Some conventional techniques require the user to insert content for editing existing content into a dedicated editing field which is separate from the usual input field, thereby reducing the ergonomics of the input interface and application to devices having smaller interfaces.
Additionally, there is not always sufficient space on the interface surface to display the existing characters into which the user wishes to perform content insertion, thereby rendering difficult the process of selecting the position where content is to be inserted.
A more efficient and user-friendly input method and system is therefore needed to allow insertion of content with respect to existing content when using computing devices such as those mentioned above.